Elon Musk says patents are free for everyone

In June 2014, Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla Motors, said at a shareholders meeting that the company would transfer all Tesla Motors corporate patents to the public.

Yesterday, in the lobby of the headquarters in Palo Alto, the wall was occupied by Tesla patents. They're gone. They were shot, in the spirit of the open source movement, to promote the technology of electric cars, Elon Musk wrote in a corporate blog.

The only controversial point in the open patent policy was the phrase that Tesla Motors’ intellectual property could be used for “good faith” purposes. This left a bit of a misunderstanding: what if Tesla Motors were to choose who could use patents and who could not.

Now Elon Musk has removed all doubts. He explained that patents are available to everyone without any restrictions.



During the Detroit Auto Show, Elon Musk gave an interview to the press. About three minutes into the video, a reporter asked how many automakers had taken advantage of Tesla’s offer.

Musk replied that he could not know:

- In fact, we do not demand any formal negotiations. So they can just take it and use it.

- Is there any licensing process? the reporter asked.

- Nope. You're just using them. I think it's better because we don't have to negotiate or anything like that. So we don't know. You’ll probably see future models of cars if they decide to use them.

Opening the patents, Elon Musk explained the change of policy. Previously, the company sought to patent unique technologies to protect against competition from large automakers. They were also expected to start mass-producing electric cars. “We couldn’t be more wrong,” Musk admits. As reality has shown, concerns are generally not very interested in promoting this technology. So far, hydrocarbon-powered vehicles account for 99% or more of any major concern’s sales.

In other words, big companies are not receptive to real, revolutionary innovation. They are too focused on their usual business. Elon Musk realized that the business of Tesla Motors is threatened not so much by competition from other electric vehicles, but by the lack of competition, that is, too many gasoline cars rolling off the assembly lines.

It turns out that the discovery of patents only expands the car market and, ultimately, benefits the company.

But not everyone agrees with that logic. Some Wall Street representatives are not at all happy that the company is scattering intellectual property. For example, a representative of a certain investment firm Technology Equity Strategies in a large article sincerely resents the “irresponsible” behavior of Elon Musk. He says patents are very important in today's high-tech industry, you have to hold onto them, make a profit. A tech company is heavily dependent on protecting its intellectual property, copyright, and trade secrets. Without it, we cannot survive the brutal capitalist competition.

Well, the future will tell who was right. But it is telling that Wall Street only knows how to play a zero-sum game. In their opinion, there must be a winner (owner of intellectual property) and a loser (deprived of a patent). They don’t understand Musk’s logic of helping others to win.

Source: geektimes.ru/post/246078/